Recently I had the great fortune to spend a weekend on Jinmen Island. It's a political oddity in that it an island that is controlled by Taiwan but most people will admit that it is actually a part of Fujian Province in China. Not only that it- at its nearest point Little Jinmen Island (as opposed to large Jinmen Island, see below) is about eight kilometers away from the Chinese Mainland.
The island is a wonderful, near idyllic, place now but that belies its sordid history. During the Cold War Mainland China chose to bombard the islands with hundreds of thousands of artillery shells resulting in thousands of dead islanders and Nationalist troops. One would think that this would engender a fair amount of animosity towards Mainland China (and one would be right) but life is even more complicated than that. The Jinmen Islanders (and the Matsu Islanders to the north) were not active participants in the Chinese civil war. As the KMT army retreated to Taiwan they militarized the peaceful islands and put the inhabitants into the middle of shooting war. The inhabitants are aware of the pawn that they became between the Nationalists and the Communists and chafed under Marshall Law for many decades. I often asked the locals if they thought they were Taiwanese or Mainlander and I received what became a familiar refrain: I am Jinmenese and my parents are Mainlanders. (Translated, obviously.)
That being said Jinmen is now a thriving community. The Taiwanese army has poured money into the islands and they've been serving as an in between point for the Mainlanders who want to do business in Taiwan and vice-versa. It was, without a doubt, the cleanest place I've visited in Taiwan and the its oft noted wide and well maintained roads are very inviting.
Jinmen also enjoys full county status in Taiwan and elects its own representatives to the Taiwanese parliament. In preparation for an approaching election we were treated to a semi constant barrage of campaign advertising. One of the candidates had bleach blond hair but I think he got stiff competition from another candidate who was always pictured next to a giant hamburger. Was he a hamburger mogul or was he using the hamburger to explain his policies? I'll never know but I hope he was the winner. (Bleach blond Asian dudes sort of creep me out.)
While on the island we visited war memorial after war memorial after war memorial. It was cool! We found an amazing beach that was completely empty. It felt more like being on an unpopulated alien planet than a cold war flashpoint. On the beach we found an awesome tank that was covered in barnacles and no island weekend would've been complete without the land mine warning signs. Jinmen is also famous for a peanut candy and a knives made out of artillery shells. I wanted to buy a knife but I just couldn't figure what I would do with it... oh well, just another reason to return to Jinmen- hopefully with someone who looks better in a bathing suit than Sean.
Below is a temple where you pray for good grades at:
Alone:
If we ever start a band this'll be our first album cover:
Awesome:
